George Burley is the Manager of the Scottish National team and was appointed in January 2008 to take over from Alex McLeish at Hampden Park. George Burley was charged with getting the Tartan Army to South Africa in 2010. Burley had a good playing career but spent the most part of his career at Portman Road for Ipswich Town in England. He also had spells with Sunderland and Gillingham whilst earning 11 Scotland Caps before he moved into coaching as Player-Manager for Ayr United in 1991.

Achievements

Burley was sacked from Ayr in 1993 and moved onto Colchester as a Player-Coach for a brief spell before moving onto Ipswich Town where he would go on to have his greatest success as a Manager. He would go onto manage The Tractor Boys for eight years earning them promotion to the Premier League after reaching the Play-Offs for three consecutive seasons. In his first season as a Premier League Manager Burley led Ipswich Town to a remarkable 5^th place finish and a UEFA Cup spot which earned the Scot the Manager of The Year Award.

However, the following season was difficult for Ipswich and they were promptly relegated from the top flight and Burley left the club not long after. Burley then had mixed spells at both Derby County and Hearts in the Scottish Premier League. Another reasonably short stint followed at Southampton where he reached the Play-Offs before being tempted away to become the Scotland National Team Manager.

Scotland had been going through a good spell before Burley came on board and he has done a solid job since taking over in the hot seat. As qualifying for the 2010 World Cup heats up Scotland are in a decent position in their group lying second behind Netherlands and hoping to make a Play-Off place.

Job Security

George Burley appears to be in a reasonable position as Manager of Scotland currently as they sit second in their group with just a few games played. However, the be-all and end-all in these campaigns is qualification at the end of them and that will no doubt determine Burley’s future as Scotland Manager. Scotland look set to be involved in a four-way battle for that second place as it looks like the Netherlands will storm away with first spot.

If Scotland can secure second spot and make it to a Play-Off to qualify then that will be considered a good campaign for George Burley.

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